mcewen



J. B. McEWEN.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. Y

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 10, 1914.

Patented Dec. 16, 1919.

2 SHEE S-SHEET 1- WITNESSES INVjZNTOR Jh B] k d/\/\ E :@M M) BY 0 W35 Wen ATTORNEY J. B. McEWEN.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APFLlCATION FILED mac.- 10, 1914.

1,325,482. Patented Dec. 16, 1919.

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JOHN B. MCEWEN, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

.AU'TOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 16, 1919.

Application filed December 10, 1914. Serial No. 876,531.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN BLAcKwooD h/ICEWEN, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at 25 Abercorn Place, London, N. W., in the county of London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Automatic Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the production of music as by piano players and like mechanical devices and has for its object the improvement of the musical rendering ob tainable by such mechanical devices.

I have in my book entitled The Thought in Music enunciated for the first time a theory of rhythmic progression, and this invention consists broadly in the application of that theory to mechanical and like musical instruments. In mechanical musical instruments great difficulties occur in obtaining a rhythmical musical rendering from a perforated music sheet or other mechanical devices because, although the music can be slowed up or accelerated by a hand lever, it is not possible to obtain practically by this means the kind of rhythmic variations which are required to give to the listener the musical sense of the composition, and although it has been proposed in automatic musical instruments in one case to vary the speed of the motor by means of a perforated sheet for controlling the fluid supply thereto, and in another case to alter the space between the holes on the tune sheet with the object in each case of regulating the tempo in the manner usually done'by hand, such accelerations and retardations as have been produced by this means are intended to afiect only the broader outlines of the composition and no suggestion has been made to utilize such means to vitalize the details or to convey the feeling of accent which follows the accurate balancing of rhythmic variations.

My invention consists therefore in providing for cyclic accelerations and retardations so as to obtain a rhythmic effect.

In carrying my invention into effect according to one form I employ a controlling device for moving the sheet while it is being perforated so that the notes are cut on the Such a sheet .when run on an instrument layerat a constant speed will give the hythmic variations required for the desired accentuation of the climaxes.

In the drawings Figure l is a side view of mechanism for producing sheet music in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view.

Fig. 8 is a small portion of a musical composit on.

Fig. 4: shows a cam outline.

Figs. 5 and 6 show a form of one-way clutch suitable for use in carrying out the invention.

Upon a frame 1, I arrange a drum 2 carrying the sheet 3 to be perforated according to the method of my invention. The arrow of the figure indicates the manner in which the sheet is drawn to a second winding drum 4L having a toothed wheel 6 attached thereto by a free wheel or one-way device, such as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 wherein a plurality of pawls a pivotally mounted upon the end of the roller 4 are pressed by springs 49 in contact with a series of internal ratchet teeth formed upon the inside of the annular toothed wheel 6 which is seated upon a step P and held in connection with the drum 4 by an annular plate 6 the toothed wheel 6 being rotated by the movement of a reciprocating rack 5 actuated by the cam 8 through the adjustable lever system hereinafter described, the construction and arrangement of the pawls of the one-way device being such that the possible slip on engagement is negligible as compared with the actual feed movement representing a note space. Intermediate the two drums is a punching de vice 7 for perforating the sheet according to the music of the author, the punching occurring at pauses in the movement of the sheet consistent with the length value of the notes and effected by an equal or variable step-by-step movement of the cam during its traverse.

By moving the cam 8 upward a distance proportional to the time between two successive notes, motion is transmitted to the slotted lever 10, 13, about its fulcrum point 11, which in turn because of the pins 12 and 12 of the rack 5- and rod 9 engaging the slots 10 and 13 causes movement to the right of the rack 5 and due to the one-way connection of the wheel 6 to the drum 4 a consequent advance of the sheet by a distance substantially proportional to the distance of the roller 14 from the base line 15 of the cam surface 8.

It will be seen from the shape of the cam 8 that by this means the distances between the perforations will vary in two inverse pro gressions, although the music notes as written may indicate equal divisions of time.

The sheet 3 is fed forward only during the step-by-step upward movement of the cam 8 and the cam makes a complete traverse from bottom to top position for each cycle in the music no matter how many bars or notes the cycle comprises. On the return or downward movement of the cam, the sheet is stationary due to the free wheel device.

To move the cam 8, I provide a guide 20 attached to the end of the frame 1 in which is a slot 21. Engaging the cam 8 through the slot is a guide pin 22 working on a threaded rod 23 between end supports At the top end of the rod 23 is a bevel gear 25 engaging with another bevel gear 26 at right angles to which is attached a handle 27. By turning the handle 27 the cam 8 is moved.

The rod '9 moves for each upward step movement of the cam 8 in unison with the pivoted arm 9 which is held in contact with the stop 30 by means of the handle 16. When the cam reaches the top the arm 9 is turned about the joint 17 by raising the handle 16 and by virtue of the spring 18 attached at its right hand end to the rod 9 and abutting against the guide 19, the link 10 returns to the right and causes the rack 5 to travel to the left ready for another series of steps which may recommence as soon as the cam has been returned to its lowest position. Due to the one-way device the drum 4 is stationary while the rack 5 is moving to the left.

To insure that the rod 9 shall return to an equal extent with each upward lift of the handle 16 an adjustable stop 28 is provided.

The full variation (entire cyclic movement of the cam) may occur over one or any variable number of bars depending upon the character of the music. Thus the increase of relative distance of the notes should only occur as one approaches a climax or accented part of the music. and necessarily the unaccented parts of the music would correspond with a decrease of relative distance. The number of bars from climax to climax or anticlimax to anticlimax may vary and the different periodic times of the cycles are made to correspond to the times between succeeding accents.

If the fulcrum point 11 is moved up or down, then for the same lateral movement of the bar 9 the movement of the rack 5 which controls the movement of the paper 3 will vary in extent depending upon the particular position of the fulcrum point 11. By turning the handle 27 the bevel gear 26 causes the rod 23 to rotate, and in this way the threaded head 22 with the fulcrum pin 11 is caused to move up or down the threaded rod, depending upon the direction of the movement of the handle. The rod 23' is supported at its ends by means of two straps 24, whereas the pinion 26 is held in lace by means of the bridging strap 29. bviously the shift of the fulcrum point 11 will be determined by the number of bars between accent and accent, whereas the relative shift of the cam 8 will depend upon the number of notes or groups of notes occurring betwen accent and accent. Where the periodicity of the accents is constant no shift of the fulcrum point 11 is required.

To illustrate the foregoing there are shown on Fig. 3 a few bars of a musical composition in which the cyclical movement of the cam is at first spread over one bar then over two bars. The difference between equal and variable spacing or unit time values for this music when produced upon a tune sheet or the like is indicated in the lower portion of the figure, by the divisions lettered A, B, C P in the former, and 1, 2, 8 16 in the latter case, the distance 0 to 16 equaling a cycle or complete traverse of the cam. A cam suitable for producing such tune sheet is indicated on Fig. 4:, and in this case the fulcrum 11 would be moved when changing from 3 time to time, so that any movement of the cam in the former case time) will produce a movement of the paper exactly half that effected in the 100 latter case time) by the same movement of the cam.

The variations of tempo or the dynamic changes such as forte to pianissimo are superimposed on the above rythmical vari- 105 ations in the usual manner if desired.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A record for producing music from a 110 mechanically played instrument in which the note determining characters are grouped in cycles and the unit distances determining the time values of the notes are varied consistently in each cycle to form two simi- 11a lar and substantially identical but inverse continuous progressions.

2. A record for producing music from a mechanically played instrument comprising a music sheet in which the punched charac- 12 ters are grouped in cycles and the unit distances determining the time values of the notes are varied in each cycle to form two substantially identical but inverse continuous progressions so as to obtain a rhythmic 12! efi'ect.

3. A record for mechanically producing music by an automatic instrument in which the unit distances determining the time values of the notes are arranged in two sub- 1U stantially identical but inverse continuous progressions in each of a series of groups into which a musical composition is divided.

4. Apparatus for producing controlling elements, records and the like for use in the mechanical production of music, said apparatus comprising means for graduating the spacing unit which governs the time values of the notes and altering said unit from one value to another and back to the original value during the period of each of a series of groups of notes into which the composition is divided.

5. Apparatus for producing sheet music records for use in the mechanical production of music, said apparatus comprising means for forming the controlling apertures in said sheet and means for feeding said sheet forward step by step, the apertures being grouped into a plurality of groups of predetermined values, the steps being of unequal length within each group but equal to the corresponding steps in other groups of like value and the steps at the beginning and end of any group being equal to one another.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN B. MOEWEN. Witnesses:

H. D. JAMEsoN, O. J. WORTH.

Itis hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,325,482, granted December 16,

1919, upon the application of John B. McEWen, of London, England, for an improvement in Automatic Musical Instruments, an error appears in the printed specification reqiliring correction as follows: Page 2, lines 115 and 116, claim 1,

strike out the Words similar and and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 23d day of March, A. D., 1920.

M. H. COULSTON,

Acting Commissioner of Patents.

[SEAL] It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,325,482, granted December 16,

1919, upon the application of John B. McEwen, of London, England, for an improvement in Automatic Musical Instruments, an error appears in the printed specification reqniring correction as follows: Page 2, lines 115 and 116, claim 1,

strike out the words similar and and that the said Letters Patent should be 1 read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 23d day of March, A. D., 1920.

[SEAL] M. H. COULSTON,

Acting Commissioner of Patents. 01. 84-68. 

